Tuesday, November 15, 2011

We are playing a show on Saturday November 19 and it is a partial benefit for the Colima Community in El Salvador!

The Mitten • 49th and Kingsessing in West Philly • 8pm for realz • with Des Ark, Lovers, Bore War and Trophy Wife.

For more information about the show or about the benefit, email me at trophywifetheband(at)gmail.com.

Here is some information from Emily, a friend of mine who has been working with this community of strong and inspiring women in El Salvador for a long time:

As many of you may or may not have heard/seen (esp. since it has received very little U.S. coverage), last month, Nicaragua and El Salvador have been blasted by hurricanes, flooding and tropical storms. The rain was catastrophic: flooding, landslides, immense damage to roads, homes, and bridges, leaving tens of thousands displaced. Nearly 70% of this year’s crops across the country were washed away. Many scientists have commented that because of its geographic position, El Salvador is currently receiving the full force of climate change effects that will also shortly be seen and experienced by many of us elsewhere.

Further, since Colima lies directly on the banks of the Acelhuate River, it has been particularly devastated by these recent inundations. This particular river was completely reshaped some thirty years ago by the introduction of massive hydroelectric dams along its route (whose power-production is aimed not at residents but heavily polluting export industries) that have left the marginalized communities on its banks as the victims of intense toxic contamination/exposure and frequent wash-outs.

This follows on the heels of disastrous flooding which occurred only a little over year ago, that likewise wiped out the crops and harvests of nearly 3/4s of Colima’s residents. In both cases, it should be understood that this represents a loss of not only whatever self-produced food security folks might have access to, but also all hope of future income from labor in harvesting or working the fields of some of the larger local landplots. In other words, it means the crippling loss for poor families of an already barely survivable nutritive and economic base simultaneously.

Two women, Noemy and Morena, are the single openly queer couple in Colima. Further, the neighborhood they live in, Los Potreritos, is made up almost entirely of households headed by single women with children. Two companions and I here in the U.S. have been generally trying across the year to provide emergency support as able, but the scale of the current disaster requires a much larger community effort. What little resources myself and others have been able to send Colima’s way in this past set of days has been immediately redistributed in the form of food, water and basic necessities throughout the entire neighborhood and then further afield. The women in this neighborhood (and Noemy and Morena in particular) are a source of constant inspiration for me in terms of their capacity for self-organization, collective caretaking and the ability to make very few materials make a very significant impact. In these current hours, the necessity for just that simply couldn’t be higher.

Most of you [reading] this are yourselves members of variously queer, poor and marginalized communities here in the United States, and as such, many of us are intimately familiar with the struggle, gift and necessity of forging alternative family and support structures in those moments when neither the state nor other institutions either can (or can be bothered to) provide access points to basic survival needs. Increments of $5,$10,$25,$50 will make a huge difference right now in terms of helping folks there in Colima to make it through this acute stage until the waters recede.

I am all too aware in writing this that there are hundreds, even thousands, of acute situations going on throughout the world that likewise would benefit from our attentions – many of them occurring mere feet away from our doorsteps, if not within our own households. However, to that reality I can only respond that we have to, as always, practice the solidarity of which we are capable where and as and whenever we are able.

If you can donate, in whatever increment, please do. You can either mail it to me or drop it off (at 5001 Chester Ave #1R, Philadelphia, PA 19143) or donate online via paypal by clicking here: donate. In every case, whatever comes in I will just bundle together and send via Western Union in their directions. In the words of Noemy and Morena: “Please give our greetings to your friends and family on the part of all the people here in Colima. Many hugs and kisses. Take good care. Con carino.”

And please accept not only their greetings, but also my own. As so many are shouting right now from the various corners across the globe, “Another world is not only possible, it is necessary.” Here’s to all the many creative, difficult, various, tendrilled and amazing ways in which we shall also necessarily have to build it.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Monday, November 7, 2011

so my birthday is coming up. and it made me think of this thing i wrote for someone on their 33rd birthday. thought id share.

33 you arewoman child cublike the record33 times aroundlike the musicto make soundfingertips feel 33 yearsof raw lifea year as a recordof an eventof fall winterspring summerone time aroundoh how much soundexplodes into the airinto open arms yetsometimes on deaf earsso it bounces back hardhurts but remindsyou of yousave some sound for youas a salve on tired bursting heartand cracked worn fingersmother to sound and thoughtpainful delirious birth33 times aroundsing your desirefor then you willsing your lifefully wholly in its possibility

Lyrics

i cannot separate all the things i want to sayfrom the things i shouldn't touchwho decides what's too much

silence won't protect youbrave prey betray this

shut up be quiet stay down don't try

2. pregnancy

they made a choice together

here she standsisn't surehe can come and go, he can leave and staygot himself a trophy put it on displaynow we knowwhere the burden is wornthey made a choice together

sing out child cubyou cant be denied so just let them trythe guts the glorythe patience the fury

what if i never told you

3. four

disassemble it and dialogue with me

hold on you can fix things

4. five

nous sommes des vampireson fait ce qu'on veut

5. cat and dog

am i less your daughteram i more a stranger

some of us will never be immunewhat does it matter to you anywaywho we fuck how much why to what endwhat does it matter to you who we fuck

6. risk big

you say you want itbut where will you be when it comesin the wild no promiseslike a hunter like a gatherer

you want a guaranteebut i am not a bottom lineput my faith in the faithlesslaid claim to the faceless

fatal investments are what you get hererisk big and you lose big

7. whitesburg, kentucky

what can we dowhen we're swallowed wholein this town

they'll come for youwhen there's not enoughto go around

use us for your powerbut we can't drink the wateruse us for your programsbut we are more than heartbreak

8. default

i don't want to defaultto a script that's based on fearwhen the walls keep crashing in on mei fight the urge to disappearsublimate detonate eradicate hesitatesublimate detonate

when you say its not okyou can call the shots you can break the trends

cant you see these patterns formingwhat is it that you believeare you going to defaulton your promises of changeyour steps forward are enticingare they merely a distractionwhat is it that you believecant you see these patterns forming

9. repetition

repetition runs down my facefalls out of my brainthe words the words i cant findrepetition runs down my thighsi wash it off but there's still the taste

you've left me cold but ill learn to feelcompulse like verb compulse like sound

shame keeps me in the darkthe darkness of hidden livesthe darkness of unshared truthsshame runs down my thighsi wash it off but there's still the taste